Netherlands
Game Info National bonuses Starting government: Republic *Merchants collect 50% bonuses from rare resources *See all rare resource in your territory *Starts game with Market, and can trade resources from the start *always trade resources with +20/-20 price bonus *Merchants, Caravan and Markets 50% cheaper and 50% more hitpoints *+1 limit to number of caravans Unique units *Ruyters 1 Nassau ruyters 2 => Royal marshals 3 horse ICith a ranged attack, and amphibious qualities *Geuzen raiders 1 => Blue Guard Grenadiers 2-3 => Mariniers 4 heavy infantry with amphibious qualities and greater resistance to cavalry units. *Armed merchants *Fluyt 1 => East Indiamen 2 => Dutch clipper 3 = faster and stronger light ship that also protects units from attrition. Unique buildings *Academy - trains your elite units *Church - performs taxation and religion research, and is the main stopping point for your auxiliary units. *Military-industrial complex (requires 6 levels of Military research; available from 4) **Units heal within your borders **Reduces the build time of ships, foundry units and aircraft **Has a +10 oil and +10 metal bonus (once 3rd Green researched). **Reduces the knowledge costs of science research and the research time for military research. **Grants access to upgrades that allow for the creation of dreadnoughts, howitzers and heavy machine guns in 5. **Has a facility for building recoilless gun infantry and tanks (different non-European sides build different tanks in 5 - Tanks are powerful mechanised units that destroy all other units, but have their own weaknesses - recoilless guns destroy them; they are vulnerable from aircraft attack; a direct hit from a cannon could potentially destroy them; and they are slower than tankettes, although they are much powerful in a shot-for-shot battle.) Spoiler CtW East Indies campaign Grand Campaign In the Grand Campaign, the Netherlands is instead renamed the ahistorical "League of Nations", comprising Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands itself, and three colonies in: *Sub-Saharan Africa: Gold Coast *Pacific: Java, South Borneo *Central America: Guyana History References Cossacks Heaven, Netherlands Historical Overview Introduction The Dutch have always been a hardy people. Living on land largely reclaimed by the sea with only dikes of dirt and grass holding the ocean back, they have had to be tough to survive. It was this tenacity of the Dutch which eventually led them to create an rich and vibrant overseas network of trade, eventually helping them surpass the Portuguese in trade and exploration from Surinam all the way to the shores of Japan. Contrary to common beliefs, it was the Dutch and not the English who first discovered Australia. Early years: Formation of the United Provinces For the most part of the mediaeval era, the Dutch have been a suppressed people, living under either Spanish, French, or Austrian hegemony for several centuries. The great Dutch Rebellion that began in 1568, however, started an independence movement that could not be snuffed out even with some the greatest fleets and armies in the hands of those who would bring the Dutch to heel. Prior to the rebellion, the Netherlands belonged to Spain as part of the Burgundian territories ceded to Charles V. The Dutch had several reasons to rebel, but the most important was that the Spanish persecuted the increasingly numerous Dutch Protestant community — with some being burned at the stake — and no Dutchman really liked that. The first phase in the Dutch rebellion was called the "beeldenstorm" or iconoclasm, which meant the demolition of Catholic churches, statues and images of holy people. When the Spanish king (Philip II) noticed this he sent the Duke Alva with an army to restore order. Initially, the Dutch acquiesced, but then came Willem of Orange. This nobleman organised the rebel forces, and together with aid from German nobles he fought Alva with success. Subsequently, many cities in the Netherlands and in present Belgium were brought under Orange rule and in 1588, this resulted in the creation of a new country, "The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands" (Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Gelderland, Drenthe, and Overijssel), the first modern republic in the world. It is also thought that Dutch jurisprudence later on inspired a second set of rebels, the Americans to eventually overthrow the British and form the United States of America. Prosperity and Empire The Netherlands thrived because of trade. As Amsterdam was situated in Holland and this city became "the warehouse" of Europe, Holland became the most important of all the provinces and people came to call the Netherlands, "Holland". Dutch traders traded all over Europe and in faraway lands, and the Dutch became immensely wealthy from such prosperous trade. Another (very important) source of income was the fishing of herring. The Spaniard Charles V was quoted to have commented, "The Dutch fish more gold and silver from the sea than other nations dig from the ground". To make herring last longer, salt was required to pickle the herring. This salt was bought in Spanish and Portuguese ports. The Spanish didn't like this since they were at war with the Netherlands, and impounded all Dutch ships that were trading and closed harbours to all Dutch trade, forcing the Dutch to get their salt elsewhere, starting first at small islands near Brazil, later in Brazil and on other coasts. The Spanish did everything to stop the Dutch from getting it because South America was largely Spanish and they wanted to cripple the Dutch economy. It didn't help, as Dutch ships kept coming and this time not only for salt. They also came to fight the Spanish by capturing their ships and colonies. In 1621, the Dutch West Indies Company was created to organise these activities. They had two main goals: encourage trade and colonistation; and capture Spanish ships and colonies (and their allies). One such mission was the capture of a Spanish silver fleet by Piet Hein, raking in silver and other products aboard of a total value of 12 million guilders (that is 5 million dollars). When Portugal "allied" with Spain, Dutch access to Brazil was cut off. subsequently, the Dutch tried to take Brazil was in 1624. After a harsh battle, Salvador was taken from Portugal but a Spanish fleet cut short Dutch control. After many battles and the continuous blocking of Brazilian harbours by ships of the Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie, or Chartered West Indies Company (GWC), the Dutch finally settled on land. Within years, large parts of Brazil were colonised, including Pernambuco, Paraiba and Itamaraca. The colony was called "New Holland". Although commercially successful, the Lusitanian residents of New Holland rebelled with success and the West Indies Company finally lost New Holland in 1654 to Portugal The Dutch would also be active in North America under GWC auspices and in Asia, where trade and colonisation was undertaken by the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or United East India Company (VOC). Until the ascension of William of Orange to the English throne, however, Anglo-Dutch rivalry was at its strongest and both factions would be involved in economic competition, which often even plunged into armed conflict. In the Americas, both factions attempted to resolve this by trading British Suriname for Dutch-held New Amsterdam, now currently New York in the United States. In Asia, the Dutch traded and fought against the locals in an attempt to secure ports of trade such as Malacca and Nagasaki, but it would not be until after the Kew Treaty that the Dutch would eventually begin to colonise what is now present-day Indonesia. Epilogue? The Dutch people were to enjoy a turbulent two decades after the collapse of the revolt led against the Austrians in 1790. The so-called Austrian Netherlands was quickly overrun in the early 1790s by the invading armies of the French republic. The northern half of Belgium-Netherlands, the United Provinces, declared war against the French republic only to be quickly defeated. The Dutch hierarchy fled to England to join in exile hundreds of aristocrats, ruling elites, and other famous persons from many other European nations fleeing the advance of the revolution. A dummy satellite republic was established, the Batavian Republic, while the rest of Belgium and some of the southern portions of the Netherlands were annexed as sovereign departments of France. The government changed hands several times before Napoleon created the Kingdom of Holland in 1805, making Louis Bonaparte, his brother, king. His reign lasted only five years before he came to odds with Napoleon and the kingdom was abolished. Napoleon then melded Holland entirely into France. Not until after the fall of Napoleon was peace restored under William VI, Prince of Orange, and then only for fifteen years before the Belgians revolted. The peoples cooperated well enough with their French masters, as much as one can with a bayonet to one's back. French troops garrisoned forts and cities throughout the Netherlands to keep an eye on the people and the Dutch and Belgian soldiers in French service. The administration did what it could to meet Napoleon's expectations, especially during the years of the Consulate, before the Kingdom of Holland was created. Napoleon was planning on invading England and his naval plans were ambitious in the extreme requiring literally thousands of vessels. Early on the Dutch fleet was stripped to skeleton status to appease Napoleon. Dutch ports of all sizes were building transports and escort ships for Napoleon's fleet around the clock with the local French naval prefects making further and harsher demands every day. By and large the people were left to keep to themselves, however. French occupation was not as brutal as in Iberia or Eastern Europe and the people enjoyed the benefits of the Code Napoleon. Throughout the Napoleonic Wars, Dutch and Belgian troops served in the legions of Napoleon. Some nine regiments of infantry were under French service circa 1810. In 1815, the Dutch and Belgian troops served with the Allied seventh coalition. They involved in the Waterloo campaign and were present at the Battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo, most serving in the 2nd and 3rd Dutch-Belgian Divisions of I Corps which was under the Prince of Orange. The Dutch-Belgians lost over 3,400 casualties during the Waterloo campaign and fought with distinction. The Battle of Waterloo took place in Belgium where one can still tour the battle site today. The role of the people and lands of the Netherlands cannot be underestimated throughout the Napoleonic Wars and the previous centuries. Category:Factions